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SKIING AT PLATTEKILL can often feel like being part of skiing’s heritage. The hill is old school, keeping it real. There are even skiers on long skis – and not because they didn’t update their gear, but because they believe in skiing the way it once was. Harder, more challenging. True to its roots. It’s also why tele skiers sing Platty’s praises. (And why there's the Telefest this weekend). But the hill also has its own historian of skiing. George Quinn. You’ll find him in the shop. He’s also just published a book Skiing in the Catskill Region on the sport’s history from its earliest days when Norwegians brought ski jumping to the area. (Click the read more button to see the rest of the post....)

YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING AT the snow forecast, thinking you’ll come up and stay. Thinking you should’ve pulled the trigger and taken Pres. Week a week early. Well Platty is this mythic place where powder lasts and lift lines don’t exist. The hill is old school, vintage, the heart of skiing…. Which also translates into no mountain village, no identikit experience, no on-hill lodging. Instead to ski-and-stay you’re staying in the heart of the community (to read more click the button below)

A picture better be worth a thousand words, because today all I have for you are photos taken on Platty's first PowderDaize of the 13-14 season. And that second one here is the only lift line I've ever stood in at Platty. Thank you Sarah Rogers for holding my place at the front (proving there are friends on a powder day at least until you get off the chair). And this being Platty you know there will still be stashes on the weekend because I am coming back for seconds....

You know a ski day is good when you get two pictures. Both of me shot by someone else. It means I didn’t stop and shoot. I couldn’t, and there were so many things I wanted to take a picture of. Here in list form (click the read more button below to see it).

While just about everything in the Hudson Valley is being labeled “the New Brooklyn,” we can promise you Platty is not the “new” anything. It’s about as old school as you get. Lodge with good bar (check). Fixed double chair (check). Long runs, good vert (check and check) and good snow. Now Brooklyn thanks to the Diamond bar is coming to Platty. (Click that little read more button below to get the deets).

Sometimes pictures count more than words. And, with the way the weather was, well, I didn't have much to say. Except that yesterday's 4 inches felt like a foot. (And yes, I treated it like a powder day). Which attests to the sad state of affairs in my weather world. Or just my ski addiction. However, hope (and flakes) are in the air for those us addicted to the white stuff... MLK Jr looks to be celebrating his birthday in fine style. See you at Platty.

BOXES, RAINBOWS, BIG AIR JUMPS, rails, rail boxes, double barrel rails, tables, launch pipes…. There are big plans afoot for the terrain park at Plattekill and many of them are already out and in use.

Not long ago pictures of two guys walking in the woods appeared on Facebook. The photos were taken in late autumn but they should hearten any Plattekill park rider. The images were of the hill’s natural features and the two guys? K.C. Jones and Preston Lemaster, the duo in charge of Platty’s park. This is perhaps the first time it’s had dedicated staff, and they have made it their project. [to read more, click that READ MORE button below]

HARVEY ROAD OF the famed NYSkiBlog came to celebrate his birthday at Plattekill. Read more about it here. First tracks, great shots and a birthday no one will forget. Who can when it includes 16 inches of untracked?

CHAMPAGNE, IT'S NOT just for kings and the elite. No here in the Northern Catskills champagne means something else entirely. Powder. Yes. A foot and a half of it to be precise. And, here is the proof in the pictures. Conditions were stellar, the sky was blue, the skiing the sort that had people whooping and using words like "epic" and saying that they can't remember when it was this good. [Click the 'read more' button below for more pics and the rest of the post...]

Okay I will be posting soon about the Terrain Park which has been open since opening day and is this year better, bigger more stocked and more stoked than ever. But first, we interrupt this program with a conditions update. The double chair is running, though it’s only to get toboggans to the top for ski patrol—but that means it will be open soon. Maybe tomorrow?